CONNIE LYNN JOHNSON
Update on the Gary and Connie Clark family within the Tribe of Parnell, 2025
I am so thankful for the blessing of our Peterson heritage and the thread of faith that has grounded us and followed us through the years. It’s hard to believe how quickly the years go by and our families grow up and change. Here is the update on our family in 2025.
I retired from Bethel University as Professor of Nursing Emerita in 2023, after 14 years of teaching in undergraduate and graduate programs there. I loved being at Bethel (as I had at Mercy College in Des Moines for 19 years) and interacting with the students both inside and outside the classroom. The many opportunities to share my faith and pray with students was a joy. I loved the collaboration with other faculty and served on multiple committees over the years. One I found especially rewarding was the Grievance Committee in which both sides on a grievance were given opportunity to share their story and be heard in a fair setting. I also had opportunities to conduct research in collaboration with other faculty. Sharing research results within the healthcare community allowed us to travel to many places including Greece, Rome, Albuquerque, and Washington, DC.
I made many lifelong friends among the faculty and continue to meet with retired nursing faculty in a Zoom prayer meeting once a month. I was in phased retirement, working approximately half-time, for the last three years of my tenure at Bethel, a great way of moving into retirement. My last full-time year at Bethel was the year of Covid, which brought many changes to teaching and interacting with students and other faculty.
Gary retired from Wooddale Church in the fall of 2018 after almost nine years on staff, first as the Campus Pastor at the Edina campus and then as the Care Pastor at the main campus, the Eden Prairie Campus. He started his retirement job, ushering at the Minnesota Twins’ games right after retiring from Wooddale. As of spring 2025, he is starting his 7th season and is required to work at least 40 games. Gary has always loved baseball and now he gets paid to be at the ballpark! He also maintains activities as a pastor whenever the opportunity arises. He conducts funerals occasionally, teaches at intervals in various adult Sunday School classes at Wooddale, and provides mentorship to a group of pastoral interns and to individuals. Both Gary and I serve on the Wooddale Prayer Team and we have had the privilege of participating in two mission trips through Wooddale Church, to Guatemala and to Cuba.
Retirement has brought many opportunities for travel, activities, going to grandkids’ sports events, and getting together with neighbors and friends for both Gary and me. My current activities include Bible Study Fellowship, church choir, pickle ball, exercise classes, and playing pinochle with neighborhood friends. We live in a wonderful association of 29 homes that allows us to know everyone on our street. Many of us from the street play pickle ball two mornings a week at an outdoor court or the community center and find it both physically and socially stimulating. Serving with neighbors at Feed My Starving Children and inviting neighbors to the Christmas at Wooddale choir concert followed by a lasagna dinner at our house, has become a tradition. I serve on the Hospitality Committee for our neighborhood and we both pray regularly for concerns/needs of neighbors and friends here. Gary has unofficially been called the “Chaplain of Pierce Street.”
Traveling is a highlight of retirement and in addition to exploring on our own, we have enjoyed traveling to visit relatives. We have visited Jim and Caryl, Nancy, and Judy and Gerald in California, Kathy in Florida, and Betsy (Tyberg) and Ralph Beer in both Oregon and California. We recently traveled to London for our 50th anniversary (2024) and at the end of our time there saw the Chicago Bears play the Falcons at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Gary is from Chicago so the Bears have always been his team, though we support the Minnesota Vikings if they’re not playing the Bears.
Both Gary and I spend lots of time with our nine grandchildren, going to sporting, musical, and dance events, and helping care for the younger ones. It is a joy to live close enough to do those things. Aaron and Holly live very close to us (in Blaine, MN), Courtney and Jeff live 2 ½ hours away (in Springfield, MN), and Katie and Ryan live 35 minutes away (in Eagan, MN). In addition, our whole family gets together several times a year for extended times, in the fall for four days at a friend’s lake home, at Christmas and Easter at our house, and in the summer for a week in July somewhere in state or out. The cousins have known each other from being very young and love being together.
I know I have been truly blessed to be born a daughter of Parnell Peterson Johnson and granddaughter of Otto and Hulda Peterson. My daily prayers include thanks for my parents and their heritage and that I was privileged to be born into such a family. I also know that with privilege comes responsibility, so I view that seriously and pray that I can live up to my legacy.
The bedrock of this legacy is the FOUNDATION OF JESUS in our lives. My mom was taught it from Otto and Hulda and then taught it to us — from day one. The church was as much our home as our own home and we were there whenever it was open – Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, VBS, camp, revival meetings, singspirations, etc, etc. I grew up knowing every nook and cranny of the church, exploring it with my cousins, who were also there. I accepted Christ at the kitchen table in Grantsburg at the age of 6, after my Mom explained how I could know that I was forgiven and would spend eternity in heaven by accepting Him into my heart. That has sent me on a journey of knowing Jesus better and better and sharing Him with my children and grandchildren.
SINGING was led by my uncle and other aunts and uncles sang in quartets. Then cousins and my siblings began singing in special music and music became just a norm in my life. This has continued as I have been in the choir in every church we have been in and Hymnal Charades was a tradition at every Thanksgiving for 20+ years as the Johnson families gathered at our home in Des Moines. Mom and her siblings loved to sing and particularly, to harmonize, and so that has just naturally been a part of my life. I wonder how many family gatherings besides the Peterson clans sing the doxology before a meal?!
Mom was also taught the VALUE OF HARD WORK and doing one’s best at whatever you did. Thus, I knew that nothing less was expected of me and I worked hard at school. This has opened doors for continued education and for employment that is both enjoyable and rewarding, a benefit I directly relate to Mom’s teaching. Doing my best and being engaged in what was going on; being interested and informed, were things I observed and absorbed. I will never be as well-read as Mom!
EDUCATION was highly valued by Mom and she made sure we made the most of ours! It is her influence that encouraged me to complete college and to go on for my master’s degree. She was supportive of me when I began my doctorate, and I took my first course in that path the fall that she was killed in the car accident.
Mom also taught us to be AWARE OF THOSE WHO WERE ON THE OUTSIDE, those without apparent friends, and to include them. Thus, way back in grade school and onto high school, college, and work, I have been mindful of those who might not be noticed or who appear to need a friendly hello and have spoken to them. Greeting others with interest and a smile was a must from Mom and has stood me well in my professional life and my life as the wife of a pastor.
Speaking of the life of a pastor’s wife, some might have discouraged this avenue, but because of the IMPORTANCE OF GOD AND THE CHURCH in Mom’s life, I was encouraged and supported to follow my love for Gary and in each church we served to feel the support of Mom and Dad.
Mom’s LOVE OF HER FAMILY was always there so just a natural part of life. Daily phone calls to sisters, and trips to visit Annie, Othelia, Irene, or LaVone were part of the week. I would often go along and we would usually came home with some treasure—for example, vegetables from the garden (Auntie Irene), fresh baked bread (Auntie Tella), or a new Avon product (Auntie Annie). Then there were the extended visits when all the girl cousins would spend a week with Aunt Annie and Uncle Fred, or Auntie Tella and Uncle Vic. Many games of Kick the Can and Hide and Go Seek were played –in the barn yard or in the gym at Elim church.
Birthdays were celebrated in the cousins’ homes and of course, the annual Christmas Eve gathering traded off between various Peterson sibling homes. It was always the highlight of the season and I remember special gifts—especially one year getting a Tammy doll with a bed and a “room” made out of the large cardboard gift box it came in, from cousin Judie. The cousins would get the same gift from the aunties, so we would open them together so that we could be surprised together. Auntie Vone’s butter horn rolls and spritz cookies stand out to me, along with riced potatoes and potato sausage as being special treats. I can picture sitting by the bed on the floor at Auntie Irene and Uncle Fred’s playing Clue with cousins while we waited for the meal to be ready. What a treasure those times were, and naturally, it was normal for my siblings and me to continue the tradition of getting together for many, many years, though for us, Thanksgiving was the holiday to gather. Now our own families are growing so much that the gathering is within each of the siblings’ offspring.
Mom’s SUPPORT OF HER HUSBAND, my dad, was always there. She never spoke ill of Dad and in word and deed, supported him in his role as the head of our house. She served him with joy in our home in making meals, keeping house, washing clothes, etc., and passed this pattern and joy to me — and now I see that pattern of serving, without complaint, in my own kids.
Though she is in heaven, Mom’s INFLUENCE CONTINUES in my daily life. My steps often are directed either consciously or unconsciously by her influence – talking to a stranger, showing interest in others’ lives and asking questions about them, doing my best at something, teaching my grandchildren about Jesus, writing a thank you note… Character was built through the influence of my parents, but also through the impact of aunts and uncles who loved God and loved others.
Here is more information on our kids and our grandkids’ names and birthdays:
Aaron and Holly Clark live in Blaine, MN. They teach English to 8th grade students in Andover and Blaine. Their children are Caeden Michael Clark (7/21/06) and Avery Elizabeth Clark (12/8/07)
Courtney and Jeff Kuehn live in Springfield, MN. Courtney is an RN at the Springfield Mayo Hospital and Jeff is the principal at Springfield Elementary School. Their children are Grant Jeffrey Kuehn (9/26/06), Parker Jeffrey Kuehn (12/9/08), and Annie Lynn Kuehn (6/5/12)
Katie and Ryan Orvis live in Eagan, MN. Katie is an Administrative Assistant at Wooddale Church and Ryan is an IT and Quality Control employee at CHS in Inver Grove Hills, MN. Their children are Peter Clark Orvis (7/18/13) and James David Orvis (6/29/15)